Arnáez S, Roncero M, López-Santiago J, Del Valle G, Cabedo E, Bottesi G, García-Soriano G
Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamientos Psicológicos, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.
Servicio de Salud Mental, Gerencia de Atención Integrada de Albacete, Albacete, Spain.
Br J Clin Psychol. 2025 Sep;64(3):788-805. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12537. Epub 2025 Mar 10.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling disorder, and self-stigma negatively impacts quality of life, symptom severity and self-esteem. esTOCma is a smartphone-based serious game developed to increase knowledge about OCD and reduce stigma. It features 10 missions using psychoeducation, indirect contact and cognitive restructuring. Players help 10 characters escape the OCD stigma monster.
To explore, in individuals with a self-reported diagnosis of OCD, the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of esTOCma to change self-stigma and knowledge about OCD, OC severity, guilt, quality of life and self-esteem.
A single-arm pilot study with 130 participants who completed esTOCma and pre-, post- and 3-month follow-up assessments.
Half of participants spent 9-10-days playing with the app and most of them found it useful/very useful and easy to use. Self-stigma was associated with higher OC symptoms, guilt and lower quality of life, self-esteem and knowledge about OCD. After using the app, participants showed lower levels of self-stigma, OC symptoms and guilt, and higher levels of quality of life, self-esteem and knowledge about OCD. Changes were maintained or increased at a 3-month follow-up.
esTOCma is a feasible and acceptable app that could help people with OCD to increase their knowledge and understanding of the disorder, dismiss self-stigma and OC symptoms, and at the same time increase self-esteem and quality of life. A replication of the study with a control sample is needed to validate our findings.
Tools like the esTOCma app, accessible 24/7, offer a means to tackle self-stigma detrimental effects.
强迫症（OCD）是一种致残性疾病，自我污名化会对生活质量、症状严重程度和自尊产生负面影响。esTOCma是一款基于智能手机的严肃游戏，旨在增加对强迫症的了解并减少污名化。它有10个任务，采用了心理教育、间接接触和认知重构的方法。玩家帮助10个角色逃离强迫症污名怪物。
探讨在自我报告诊断为强迫症的个体中，esTOCma改变自我污名化以及关于强迫症的知识、强迫症严重程度、内疚感、生活质量和自尊的可行性、可接受性和初步有效性。
一项单臂试点研究，有130名参与者完成了esTOCma以及前后和3个月随访评估。
一半的参与者花了9至10天玩这个应用程序，他们中的大多数人认为它有用/非常有用且易于使用。自我污名化与更高的强迫症症状、内疚感以及更低的生活质量、自尊和对强迫症的了解相关。使用该应用程序后，参与者的自我污名化、强迫症症状和内疚感水平降低，生活质量、自尊和对强迫症的了解水平提高。在3个月的随访中，这些变化得以维持或增加。
esTOCma是一款可行且可接受的应用程序，它可以帮助强迫症患者增加对该疾病的知识和理解，消除自我污名化和强迫症症状，同时提高自尊和生活质量。需要用对照样本重复这项研究以验证我们的发现。
像esTOCma应用程序这样随时可用的工具，提供了一种应对自我污名化有害影响的方法。
